


Inevitability

by GoodJanet



Category: What's My Line? (US TV)
Genre: Dressing Room Sex, F/M, Flirting, Friends With Benefits, Kissing, Lipstick & Lip Gloss, Resolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 17:05:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6432922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodJanet/pseuds/GoodJanet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>He can’t think of anything witty to say, so he keeps his mouth shut and kisses her again.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inevitability

It only happens once.

Although, to be fair, the build up to the moment had arguably been going on for years.

It was a hand squeeze below the panelists’ desk, out of sight from the audience.

It was a knee pat when the entire studio was laughing at a contestant’s answer.

It was a suggestive comment while John engaged in what he liked to call “small conferences.” They both knew there just _had_ to be a story there, hidden behind John’s large hand and a curl of the woman's hair that always seemed to come free amidst all the excitement.

It's only a matter of time until the tension finally breaks. It happens in his dressing room right after the show, after she stopped by to ask him about the tickets for the show they and their spouses were planning on seeing together next week. For a moment, he just stares and looks as though he would answer, but he quickly changes his mind. His fierce kiss takes her by surprise, but she finds herself reciprocating with equal fervor.

He quickly shuts the door behind her and presses her up against it. Bennett looks down at her mouth and sees her red lipstick is smudged. He knows he's responsible for that.

Bennett wonders what would be enough to deter him from following with this. They were married. They had children. They worked together. Their spouses often worked with them. They were both happily married. But he can't help himself. He doesn't want to stop.

Bennett’s hands push her voluminous skirts up and up and up with no resistance, and he drags her stockings down, down, down her smooth, creamy legs. And then she is completely bare to him, and he feels like he can't breathe.

“How far can a girl go?” Arlene husks into his ear, and he shudders as she undoes his zipper.

He can’t think of anything witty to say, so he keeps his mouth shut and kisses her again. He’s so overcome that he finds himself at a loss for words. But then he is hoisting her bare leg around his waist to enter her, and Arlene is tossing her head back against the door and moaning. He doesn't know how he could be expected to last under these circumstances.

When they pull away, she grabs tissues and wipes her lipstick off his face. But before he goes, he pulls her in for one last kiss because deep down, he knew this would never happen again. She pats his cheek affectionately with that trademark grin of hers and promises that everything was all alright before ushering him out her door before someone had the chance to notice that he was missing.

At the next show, she introduces him as "the enormously attractive publisher of Random House and Modern Library books: Mr. Bennett Cerf." And he's glad the audience at home can't see him blush.

“That girl is smoother than a shave by our new electric shaving sponsors," Bennett says to the camera.

Arlene laughs.


End file.
